An irresistible snack any time of day, or an incredibly tasty decoration atop a cake, cupcake or a creamy dessert. These tasty treats are also suitable for chilled preparations such as mousses and ice creams or mixed into your next batch of chocolate chip cookies. They add a deliciously crunchy texture and chocolate flavor to enrich any of your creations!

A longtime ago (maybe thousands of years), well before written history, or at least typewriters, a discovery of evidence shows that man had discovered pearls. And as history is written since the invention of typewriters, the white, hard, lustrous pearls had been found on the shores of many beaches. With its wonderful inner glow these rare, hard-to-find gems have become some of the most valuable natural gems in the world.

The Egyptians, who had excellent preservation techniques, buried these gems with their Pharaohs. Known also for their food “stores” for the long travel to the “afterworld” great knowledge has been gained by deciphering these “found” food objects.

What you might not know is that the great secret warehouses of the modern world hide some very important treasures. Some of these secrets of course would be best not to know. Such as aliens from outer space are amongst us in the shapes of house cats and poodles.

To those of us where foods are so important to our happy place, there are some secrets that are held within those walls that shouldn’t be kept.

One secret is about those pearls. While history says it was all about the hard white pearls, there is proof that in fact that what Cleopatra loved more than anything is indeed a very special pearl. And these pearls were made out of cocoa beans, sugar, cocoa butter, and wheat. Reportedly she would eat them by the handful, on top of frosted cupcakes, or in a rich mousse!

Her French Chef, because of the possibility of war over the pearls, served them secretly in oyster shells. Kept chilled on a bed of ice cold Rialto beach rocks, white pearls (the gems) were added for a visual cloak. We believe this is where the confusion lies. The chocolate of course did not survive time and the gems did. The anthropologists have assumed that the gems were the treasure.

And we know now these Chocolate Crunchy Pearls are an amazing gem! A single one is tiny, but an explosive bite of chocolate flavor. The center of crunchy is just right! A handful is like a mouthful of small balls all moving around crunching delightfully all packed with flavor. Just like Cleopatra ordered these are a treat-to-eat, perfect and just-in-time for baking season!